The Exonian
by La Fortuna
Summary: She should be happy. She was in one of the most prestigious schools in the entire nation. Exonian Academy was certainly what it was cut out to be, and much more. Much more of a challenge, Serena added as a mental footnote.
1. Chapter 1

  
  
  
  
  
  
The Exonian  
Chapter 1  
Par La Fortuna  
PG13  
June 19, 2001  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, but the story is entirely   
my own. Mess around with it, and you will die an excruciatingly   
painful death.   
  
NB: Trial and error, I suppose. I'm writing under an alias, so...   
^^ Recognize me?  
  
______________________________________________  
  
  
  
She really hated going to school at 7 am in the morning. What   
was the point of scheduling class so early? No one heard the   
teacher anyway since everyone was asleep. Those who were   
awake either skipped class the day before to finish the   
assignment on time or they simply didn't care. Too bad, since   
Serena didn't belong in either of the aforementioned categories.  
  
  
The alarm clock had failed to ring, but her trustworthy dorm   
mate was kind enough to throw the overstuffed pillow smack  
into her face as a substitute. It was all Serena could do to   
prevent an all-out pillow fight in her room. A cluster of   
feathers coating the mess that already existed would not   
please the dorm teacher. Not at all, Serena thought to herself,   
already aware of the consequences from a previous   
experience. What a stifling atmosphere.  
  
  
"Argh," Serena moaned, eyes still shut tight in order to block   
out some of the sun's rays. "Thanks, Lita!"  
  
"Mmmmph," her friend mumbled while brushing her teeth.  
  
  
Getting up was an arduous task. She hated getting up so early   
in the morning. Her muscles still squeaked after fencing   
practice the day before, when the coach hadn't bothered to tell   
the fencers to stop until after twenty minutes of tedious   
bouncing. Serena was experiencing a tinge of the same painful   
agony she had yesterday as she stretched her figure on the bed.   
Being champion fencers still didn't make up for the fact that   
everyone needed to stretch after practice as much as they   
needed to before.  
  
  
"Do you think Dr. Finn will mind if I skip her class for today,   
Lita? I don't feel so hot, and I still have to finish the paper   
assigned. I'd rather get one grade lower than a zero for the   
assignment."  
  
"Rena... I -told- you to finish the paper ahead of schedule."   
Lita had finished preparing herself for class in the bathroom   
and was already chewing on a freshly-made blueberry muffin.   
She glanced at the girl on the bed with amused eyes, an   
expression that just screamed, 'I told you so!'  
  
  
Serena rolled her eyes. Lita was the quintessential pocketbook.   
You would have thought that Amy would have held that   
esteemed role, but who knew that Lita was not only the   
consummate cook but the perfect clock as well?   
  
  
Oh, Lita hadn't stopped talking yet. Better listen to her.  
  
  
"You knew that your fencing practice would take longer than   
expected, that you'd have no energy left once you got back to   
the dorm. I mean, I even gave you caramel, chocolate, and   
COFFEE last night, and you still fell asleep with half an hour.   
Of course, you still didn't finish your paper!"   
  
Serena mumbled under her breathe, "I don't drink coffee,   
remember? Whenever I do, it has the opposite effect on me.   
I FALL ASLEEP. The caffeine does nothing for me!"  
  
"Right right, wake up, and I'll tell Finn that you're feeling   
feverish. I'll boil some water, and put the thermostat on it and   
then I'll give it to the nurse."  
  
Smiling her brightest smile, Serena turned her face towards Lita.   
"You're wicked cool, Lita, you know that, don't you?"  
  
"Only because I love you, Serena."  
  
"Uh-huh." Closing her eyes, Serena dropped her head onto the   
pillow and promptly started snoring softly.  
  
  
______________________________________________  
  
  
  
She was awake now, sitting in front of the computer, and the   
paper was nearly done. Well, she thought she was awake, but   
her physical appearance didn't do much to support that notion.   
Serena couldn't help but notice the dark smudges beneath her   
eyes. She paused a second in her typing to glance at the mirror   
transfixed on the nearby wall.   
  
  
Not the best reflection, not the most presentable Serena either.   
She was weary, her clothes hardly transformed her into some   
siren capable of bringing any ship down. Her normally bright   
and lucid blue eyes were dazed and weary now; her blond,   
tangled hair was simply a mess tied up into a temporary pony tail.  
  
  
Pressing print on the computer, Serena sat back in the swivel   
chair in mute satisfaction. She should be happy. She was in one   
of the most prestigious schools in the entire nation, the entire   
world even. Exonian Academy was certainly what it was cut   
out to be, and much more. Much more of a challenge, Serena   
added as a mental footnote. Normally, she would have   
received a pink note or cut slip because of her absence from   
Finn's Romanticism class, but since Serena had recently   
battled a week-long illness, Finn and the other horde of   
teachers were slightly more lenient on her at the present   
moment.  
  
  
Better take advantage of that, Serena thought to herself, smiling   
slightly. It was rare for anyone to get a break at Exonian. Gods   
knew how Serena would have loved an additional week off,   
but getting behind in so many classes would have been more   
deleterious. Luckily, as it was Saturday, it was only a half-day   
of class, and Serena was exempt from going to the other   
classes in the day. It allotted her more time to catch up on her   
numerous assignments.  
  
  
She took a glance around the room. Messy, sure, but it was   
her room nevertheless, and it was her quiet sanctuary. Over   
two full school years of being stuffed into a small, yet   
comfortable, dorm room with a dorm buddy nearby,   
connected by a narrow hallway. Pictures were scattered all   
over the four walls, memories of friends and acquaintances   
she had gathered through her school days at the local public   
elementary and middle schools in her hometown. A window   
with the shades pulled apart made the room feel a lot more   
airy than it would have been otherwise. A computer with a   
good-sized screen was stationed at the corner of the room,   
with a scanner, a zip drive, and every other lovely accessory   
that she could afford from the money she earned by of   
working at the ice cream parlor back in Virginia.   
  
  
Lita, Amy and only a couple of other close friends at Exonian   
knew Serena was a computer geek, but most of the world   
did not. Of course they didn't, Serena grinned, they didn't   
even know who she was, other than the fact that she was   
one of the few to receive financial aid. She didn't nearly   
have as many friends here as the number of pictures she   
posted on her walls. She wasn't very popular either, Serena   
thought with a grim smile. Well, popularity wasn't essential -   
just the academics.  
  
  
The bed covers should have been the ones issued by the   
school, but instead, bunny rabbits and crescent moons   
covered the linen. Rabbits and moons were a childhood   
obsessions of Serena's, ones that she wasn't ashamed of.   
Her dreams as a younger girl had been about living on the   
moon as a princess, destined to meet her prince, and the   
rabbits were a play on a name a Japanese friend had given   
her. Tsukino Usagi, she had called Serena. Rabbit of the   
Moon. Her dreams had faded into obscurity as she grew   
older, but she always regretted not being able to recapture   
them. A fantasy every now and then was always a  
refreshing dose of fun she would love to indulge in.  
  
  
The walk-in closet in the wall near the entrance was small,   
but it was enough. This rabbit of the moon didn't have many   
clothes up to par with the rest of the students. But it didn't   
really matter much since the school uniform was required   
attire of all Exonian students during class.  
  
  
Serena stood up and stapled the papers she had just printed.   
Deciding that it'd be a good idea to give a classmate who   
would have Finn later in the day - just so that the professor   
wouldn't get the impression that she really was cutting class,   
Serena started changing into more suitable attire for a walk   
through the campus.  
  
  
______________________________________________  
  
  
  
It was breezy and a bit snippy outside, but the weather was   
considered relatively nice for New England. Serena wrapped   
the scarf a little tighter and clenched her tote bag a little harder.   
She really did need to recuperate from her illness, and another   
spell of weakness would not do, especially since second   
trimester finals were coming up soon. She had already given the   
Romanticism paper over to the classmate. Hopefully Finn   
would accept the assignment without becoming too irate about   
the absence of one of her students. Oh well. Now, she had   
time to spend wandering around campus before heading back   
to the dorm to study and work on homework.  
  
  
The campus was decidedly lovely, Serena confirmed. The   
ancient buildings that had survived since the first few years after  
the Revolutionary War, the ivy vines that snaked their way up   
along the brick facades of many of the edifices; the towering   
oaks and maples that provided shelter from the sun; the   
presence of teens dressed in classy garments, chatting along   
the way to class or back to the dorms; the blurred movement   
of some bicycle tires as they raced to their destination - all so   
preppy, so refined, so classically New England, so Exonian.  
  
  
Serena sat down on one of the benches along the trail she had   
been following back to her residence. Quietly, she looked   
around at her surroundings. Had she really spent over two   
years here? She had recently celebrated her sixteenth birthday   
as an Upper here, as well as her fifteenth and her fourteenth.   
Serena knew, without a doubt, that her seventeenth   
anniversary would be celebrated within the confines of the   
boarding school as well.  
  
  
She thought back to her hometown in quiet rural Virginia. Her   
parents were both middle-class citizens - a middle school   
teacher and a secretary - who had struggled to pay the bills   
and support the family. Serena had a younger brother, Sammy,   
who was younger than her by only two years but a handful as   
a toddler and reckless as a teenager who had just found his   
freedom.  
  
  
Heh, you're calling the kettle black, Serena thought to herself.   
She knew that she had just been as troublesome too back   
home. But she had come to Exonian, and learned right away   
that there was no place for trouble in this prestigious   
environment.  
  
  
Why she received the financial aid, she never knew. Someone   
must have a kind heart in the admissions office, especially after   
seeing the drastically small chance of a student like Serena   
ever gaining entrance. And then, perhaps this admissions officer   
entertained the thought of actually letting this girl into the   
impossibly hard-to-get-into school, and thought it would be an   
act of generous philanthropy to throw in some financial aid as   
well. It wasn't like Serena wasn't grateful that she was at Exonian.   
Serena knew the four years at Exonian would give her   
experiences and skills that would carry her through life, and as   
her friends said back home, "Your college admissions are set   
straight!" Yes, going to Exonian was something worthwhile to  
put on the college resume.  
  
  
Well, Serena got the acceptance and the aid all right. Whatever   
the circumstances, Serena had decided that her acceptance into   
Exonian Academy must have been a fluke. She was no   
exceptional student when she entered as a boarding school   
freshman, though she did do well among her fellow classmates   
back in Virginia, nor was she a gifted star in some field like   
music or the arts.   
  
  
How did she get in? Why did she get in? How in the world did   
she end up hundreds of miles from her place of birth, thrown   
into the midst of this prep-school atmosphere?   
  
  
But now, those questions needed to put to rest, and Serena   
had to focus on her studies in the here and now. Her parents  
had agreed readily into letting her go to Exonian, in hopes that   
their only daughter would find some future better than their   
own. And while the financial aid managed to pay a good deal   
of her tuition for her, her parents still had to pay a hefty sum.  
  
  
Serena knew how heavy the financial burden was for her parents.   
She carried it on her own shoulders every day - it was an entity  
that always resided in the recesses of her brain, and in moments   
of despair, it came to the forefront. Every time she felt like   
calling home and saying that she wanted to leave Exonian and   
go back home because of the academic and social pressures -   
when Lita couldn't help her out and shutting herself in her dorm   
room didn't assuage her anxiety, Serena would cradle the   
receiver and think of the sacrifices her parents were making -   
for her. She would put down the receiver, resorting to writing   
cheerful letters instead of wasting precious cents on the phone   
bill, and then sit before the computer and start working on the   
papers again.  
  
  
A little more than one year to go, Serena, she told herself as   
she sat on the bench in the beautiful campus, looking down   
upon her thin, pale hands clutching her tote bag. Only one   
year, and then college....   
  
______________________________________________  
  



	2. Chapter 2

The Exonian  
Chapter 2  
Par La Fortuna  
PG13  
June 20, 2001  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, but the story is entirely   
my own. Mess around with it, and you will die an   
excruciatingly painful death.   
  
NB: Trial and error, I suppose. I'm writing under an alias, so...   
^^ Recognize me? Ugh... the first few chapters of this fic are  
still trying to set the atmosphere. I know it's long, maybe   
tedious even for you guys to read... ^^; I have no idea where   
I'm going with this, but I'm trying. =)  
  
Caution: Mild Inappropriate Language for youngsters. ^_^;  
  
______________________________________________  
  
  
  
Instead of going through new material, the teacher had decided   
to spare them two days so that they could put some effort into   
preparing for the final exam. All fifteen of the students were   
currently sitting around the circular table, comparing notes and   
studying in silence for the upcoming test.  
  
  
Well, the room was almost entirely silent except for one arc of   
the table.  
  
  
"Serena, I don't think I'll be able to remember all by Friday.   
I mean, who needs to know about the Roosevelt Corollary to   
the Monroe Doctrine?"  
  
"Lita, be quiet over there! This is a silent study period!"  
  
The girl in question, very irreverently, rolled her eyes. "That entire   
Zimmerman incident was interesting, but it doesn't relate to my   
cooking, does it?" Lita asked in exasperation.  
  
"Shhh... I thought you were studying for the past three days."  
  
"NO! I wasn't. I couldn't!"  
  
"Why not?" Serena asked.  
  
"Remember the Szechaun dish that I promised to make for   
Amy? Well, I forgot about it, and you know how it's a two-  
day affair cooking that thing."  
  
There went Lita and the pocketbook theory.  
  
In whispers, Serena responded. "Don't fret about it, Lita.   
We're having a study session later today at Amy's dorm.   
We'll definitely be able to make it through Lyndon Johnson,   
but not if you keep on complaining like that."  
  
"But the dish isn't finished!"  
  
"I thought you already spent two days steaming it and cooking   
it and whatever else you do with it!"  
  
Lita could do nothing but moan and slide further down in her   
seat, bringing her notes down with her and grabbing her hair in   
frustration. "You don't anything about cooking, Sere!"  
  
Serena stifled a laugh, grinning to herself and wondering how   
she could ever have thought of Lita as orderly. "Hush. The   
teacher's going to flip if we keep on whispering like this."  
  
  
A couple of minutes after the exchange with Lita, Serena   
chanced a glance up across the table to see what was going   
on at the other side and suddenly caught sight of a young man   
whose eyes were fixated on her. Blushing slightly, Serena   
quickly averted her eyes to stare down at her history notes.   
She had never learned how to take these glances, these not-  
so-discreet come-ons that were levied upon her. Lita had   
once told her that attraction was the cause, listing the   
attributes that guys would certainly find attractive in Serena.   
Uniquely beautiful, Lita had said, not the stereotypical blonde   
bombshell but one whose sensuality and intelligence was   
undoubtably irresistible. One who knew her own mind, Lita   
had added in contemplation. What else could a guy want?   
  
  
But Serena had shooed away the idea, saying that there was  
nothing in her for anyone to be attracted to.  
  
  
Serena felt awkward receiving these glances, especially from   
people like Daniel. She had been impressed by Daniel's all-  
American good-boy looks, the golden hair, the hazel eyes,   
cheery yet hooded, and the fair complexion. At first, Serena   
had thought that he would be an affable person to befriend.   
She carried that notion through her head for the first couple   
of months, flattered by the polite comments that Daniel   
gave her at odd moments. She would smile, laugh, and   
secretly glance his way only to find that he was intently   
watching her.   
  
  
But it didn't take long for her to learn that being friends was   
not Daniel's objective. At the beginning of the Sophomore   
year, he had approached her with the seemingly innocent   
proposal of an after school study session for government   
and politics. Study sessions were common at Exonian and   
effective, as the students rushed to prepare for upcoming  
exams. Curious as to why he would ask the no-name girl   
who was always silent in class, she had accepted, despite   
the nagging knowledge that Daniel was not a student with   
a most reputable character.  
  
___________________________________________  
  
  
"But how would you defend Tocqueville's statement?" She had   
asked Daniel at the session.  
  
"I don't know. How would you defend your position if I asked   
you about it?"   
  
"Look, I already outlined my position on the paper." Serena   
pointed to the sheet.  
  
"Mhm..." Daniel's eyes were focused on Serena but they were   
no where near to glancing at the paper.  
  
"Daniel, we really ought to get to work. We're getting nothing   
done!"  
  
"Oh, really? I think I'm getting a lot done."  
  
  
He had responded casually, obviously disinterested with the   
topic she was discussing and more interested in the tilt of her   
face, the eye lashes pointed downwards, and the curl of her   
shoulder-length golden hair towards her chin. When they  
met at the campus library, they began going over the text but   
it didn't take long for him to begin the use of one liners,   
hoping to catch Serena in his finely spun web of seduction.   
  
  
Impatient and frustrated with the lack of progress they were   
making, when Serena had suddenly turned towards him,   
intending to give him a piece of her mind, she instead found   
herself speechless because of the close proximity of his figure.   
His face was only inches away from hers and she could feel   
his warm breath brushing across her cheeks. His hands were   
nearing the tendrils of her hair, and the color of his eyes had   
deepened into a darker shade of hazel. He had sat close to   
her with the pretense of paying close attention to her words   
at the outset, but now he was too close and Serena could   
not tolerate the hooded suggestions his darkened hazel eyes   
were sending her.   
  
  
She immediately stood up, grabbed her things, quietly uttering   
the words, "I've got to go," before walking hurriedly out of the   
library. Unfortunately, she did not walk quickly enough to   
escape the words Daniel muttered behind her, "Charity ingrate."  
  
  
When she had returned to her dorm, Serena immediately   
related the course of events to Lita, who proclaimed that   
since Serena didn't get to voice her mind, she would willing   
do so - with her fists.  
  
  
"Lita, I don't want to raise any troubles now, especially since   
it's just the beginning of the school year. He'll forget about it,   
I'll forget about it. It was nothing, just unwanted attention. I'm   
sure he didn't intend to offend me like that."  
  
"He's an inconsiderate cad, Sere. I know that, and so do you.   
You know how many girls he's gone through like water, how   
he carves his conquests in to the wall. How could you have   
said yes when he asked you to study with him?"  
  
Serena sighed then. "I thought it'd be fine. I thought he   
wanted to study."  
  
"Don't let it get to you. He's not worth it."  
  
Responding to her friend with only a nod of the head, Serena   
went back into her room to finish her other assignments.  
  
  
The next day in class, when Serena went to the teacher to   
hand in her assignment on Tocqueville, she brushed Daniel   
slightly on the arm. The contact startled her, and she looked  
down at the young man whose arm she had unwittingly   
touched. Daniel gave her a come-hither look, and Serena   
looked away immediately in disgust.  
  
  
After class, she walked out in to the fall air, relieved that   
nothing else had come of the incident at the library. She   
heard the doors behind her open and close, and when she   
heard the voices, she was shell-shocked and rooted to the   
ground.  
  
  
"Come with me to the ice cream parlor," Daniel said   
smoothly to a giggling girl.  
  
"I would love to, Daniel. Promise me we'll go the movies   
this weekend?"  
  
  
Then, Daniel and the girl walked pass Serena, neither even   
looking her way. "Sure. Anything for you, sweetheart." With   
his arms wrapped around the young girl's shoulders, he   
sauntered down the sidewalk lane away from the building. In   
the distance, Serena saw him bend his head down toward the   
girl's uplifted face.  
  
___________________________________________  
  
  
Disappointment had one been element of Serena's feelings   
when she returned to the dorm that day. Anger and outright   
humiliation were two others, but she was determined not to   
let her embarrassment show, not even to Lita. It was a year   
ago, but the mild tinge of hurt was still present, and Serena   
could do nothing to squelch it.   
  
  
"Charity ingrate"? Was she really that dispensable? That   
invaluable as a person for Daniel to disregard her with such   
contemptuous nonchalance? Was it her middle-income   
background, one that made someone like Daniel who came   
from a rich and distinguishable family think less of her and   
therefore let him think that he could do this to her?   
  
  
The factor of her family background was a tender spot for   
Serena, for she distinctly felt the difference between her   
personal history and that of others at Exonian. She was   
there on account of the financial aid, while others had   
squirmed their way in because of their aristocratic lineage   
- indeed, some were truly royalty. How could she not feel   
the difference when she saw the expensive Mercedes and   
Rolls-Royces that drove the students and their luggage   
back after a vacation break. While the uniform Exonians   
were required to wear hid some of the stigma, Serena   
knew that the repeated wear of her clothes outside of class   
had attracted the notice of the chic at school. In addition,   
there was the reliance on second-hand library books   
instead of new textbooks in class and the dependency on   
the use of the auto-laundry mats in the basement of the   
dormitory instead of the laundering service provided.  
  
  
But Serena thrived on this difference, even though she   
suffered as well - but she struggled through it with a smile.   
She was proud of her heritage, of her lineage, of her parents   
who worked so very hard to support her. Hah, she could   
get to Exonian without the fiscal backing (though how she   
did it, she still didn't quite know - where was that nice   
admissions officer?). Serena wasn't envious of the material  
goods that she lacked. Materialism wasn't that important,   
in the end, when one's life was based on what he or she   
did with it, not what things one could acquire. And if she   
could do it, Serena would show these people that, in   
academics at least, she could surpass them, and that in the   
future, she would be successful in life because she willed it.   
Many she wasn't an exceptional student when she entered   
Exonian, but she would be once she left.   
  
  
Serena reminded herself that Daniel was a reprehensible   
person, that the young girl that day was probably being   
fed the same lines he used on her at the library just the day   
before, that what happened at the library was   
inconsequential. But the affront had been committed, and   
despite what she said to Lita that day, Serena had not   
forgotten.  
  
  
Since then, other guys had approached her with offers of   
study sessions and unforgetable movie thrills. Serena had   
rejected them all, fearing the possibility of meeting another   
Daniel at Exonian. Instead, she focused on what she came   
to the boarding school for. She learned from the teachers,   
taught herself from the textbooks, and when she did attend   
a study session, it was only with friends like Lita and Amy.   
  
  
"You ought to try and look less desirable somehow in order   
to deter the Exonian men," a friend of Ami's had once   
remarked.  
  
Serena had responded, shaking her head, "What do you   
mean? I'm trying to do all that I can."  
  
  
There wasn't much that she could do however. The   
obligatory attire she had to don every day could not be   
tampered and it made the loveliness of her figure even  
more apparent; the brightness of her eyes and the sensibility   
of her character could not be hidden from all. All she could   
do was remain quiet and as inconspicuous as possible, but   
Serena was far from successful.  
  
  
Her constant rejection of admirers and potential boyfriends   
did not do much for Serena's position on the social hierarchy   
at school. Libeled as the "frigid bitch," such offers of getting   
to know one another better came less and less. However, by   
the end of the second trimester of Upper year, there were   
still offers though, and enough rejections to further malign   
her reputation. She wasn't the easy blonde, nor was she the   
beauty queen, simply the "frigid bitch" in the eyes of many.   
The young men at Exonian quickly learned from word of   
mouth that any attempts would be spurned by Serena, but   
some were still self-confident enough to give it a go.  
  
  
And so, Daniel would still give her the same come-hither   
looks, as he was doing now. In spite of the efforts Serena   
made to stop the rush of blood to her cheeks, the rosy color   
still blossumed. Stop it, she berated herself. He's not worth   
blushing over, Serena thought, thinking back to Lita's advice.   
You should despise the guy, Sere. And she did, but her rosy   
cheeks did not help the situation. They made her look like   
she was still infatuated with the jerk!   
  
  
Focusing her eyes on her notes again, Serena began going   
over the Harding administration, looking forward to the end   
of class when she could convene with her friends.   
  



End file.
